October 31st, 2009 Suits, Ties and Rock Music: On The Rebound

Remember the days where bands used to dress like they just rolled out of bed? Those days are gone as the suit has made a huge comeback both onstage and off.

Have you noticed lately that musical fashion has been a lot less extreme and a little more civilized? Gone are the days of latex, big hair and, umm, more latex, and in are designer t-shirts, suits and ties. Even classy men’s jewelry has made a valiant comeback in recent years.

Most impressively, though has been the reemergence of the full male suit in today’s music. What began as typical wear for bands and artists in the 50’s and 60’s became ironic and square with the hippy and punk movement in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Though David Bowie, U2 and the Rolling Stones attempted to keep the suit going in the 80’s, the era was dominated by hip hop and hair metal fashion which looked at suits in the same way as a kid might look at broccoli.

But in the late nineties once the grunge look became passé, the suit made a valiant comeback. One of the first established bands to commit to the suit was Green Day. Lead singer Billy Joe Armstrong made the leap from punk fashions to dress shirts and ties during the bands “Warning” album in 2000. During the 2004 “American Idiot” tour, the other members of Green Day, along with touring musicians, donned full suits which has continued during their latest tour.

Ska music has always embraced the suit as a sometimes ironic/ sometimes non-ironic part of its fashion. Harkening back to the days of Madness and The Toasters, third-wave ska bands such as the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones make sure all members of their bands wear a crisp, pressed suit each time they take the stage.

With indie rock making huge inroads into the mainstream world, a whole new string of bands have been making the men’s suit a constant fashion statement. Interpol took the rock suit fashion statement one step farther than most other bands in their genre by wearing them everywhere, not just in on stage. In fact, bass guitarist Carlos Dengler stated once in an interview that he wear’s nothing but suits whenever he leaves his residence.

Alternative rock band, The Killers, led by lead singer Brandon Flowers, have been known don suits, though in recent years their fashion has become a tad more uncharacteristic (think bolo ties and feathers). The Raconteurs love to rock vintage looking suits, while Jack White rocks red and white style suits in his White Stripes band.

There are multiple other examples of band’s donning suits both onstage and off. Next time you go to a show there is a good chance you might see a band rocking more than just an instrument onstage.